May will be one year since Chef Mat joined the partnership at The Flying Banzini. Mat is not someone to stay still for very long. Thus, we are looking to expand. A little bit.

We think that The Flying Banzini could open a second location. There are parts of the city in which we think another Banzini would do well. That is a long term goal. In the short term, we are planning a smaller expansion. We have been actively shopping for a food truck since December.

We have come close. In a couple of cases we were outbid by other buyers. And, in one case we had the deal almost done but when we tried to start the truck there was smoke and flames and stuff. Not a good sign, so we passed on that one.

There are some other puzzles about the food truck business. The City of Ottawa has a limited number of spots and we don’t have one. Thinking that we might take a City spot one day, though, puts limitations of the size of the truck we can buy. There was a beauty for sale in Kingston, for instance, but it was too long to be used in a city spot. That would limit us to private locations and we don’t think that’s a good long term plan.

And, we have a budget that we have to stick to. Mat will get it done at this price but it is taking some time.